Open Secrets
by silwiyard
Summary: In all the great stories and legends there is a person who strives against adversity and shapes the people and world around.   However what is less known is that there is always a second story just below the surface and that one is filled with secrets.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Ranma ½

Fanfic by Silwiyard

** Sun on a hill**

Nabiki trudged onward up the hill while holding her little sister's hand. The sun was pounding the ground with heat waves as it hung high in the middle of the sky.  
Even with the broad-rimed hat that she had on, it was unbearable. She squinted her eyes as she looked at silhouette of her older sister leading their father.  
Deciding that it would not do to be left behind she pulled Akane's hand to get her to speed up.

Whose brilliant idea was it to place the tombstone of their mother up on a hill?

A little voice answered.

You know it was a joint decision between Kasumi and you.

Nabiki mentally scoffed and made a resolution that her final resting place should be on flat ground and with a tree next to it to provide shade, after all it wouldn't do  
that her guests should come sweating, panting, and turning shade of red best reserved for a Ferrari. She much preferred Lamborghini's anyway, red was such gaudy colour  
in her opinion, a nice yellow or chrome is what a car should be. There was no excuse for poor style even when showing off the vast amount of wealth you had in getting such a car.

Regardless it had been exactly one week since the death of mother, Akane still asked for her occasionally before remembering and then run crying into Kasumi's arms.  
Their father was an absolute mess he had cancelled all his martial arts classes indefinitely and spent his time staring at the koi pond while holding a picture of his wife.  
Such was his state that Kasumi and Nabiki had had to ask an aunt to help them arrange the funeral and the tombstone. Which brought her back to her original point; why  
had they decided to place it so far up the hill? Kasumi said something about how mother would be happy that her tombstone was able to look over most of Nerima.  
Frankly if mother wanted to look over Nerima, she was much better doing it from heaven at least there she got a bird's eye view.

Back when they were at the hospital and had just received the news of her death, Kasumi had stepped up to comfort their family and to try to restore order. She took Akane and  
went to call their relatives and mother's friends, as she asked Nabiki to look after father. Nabiki shuddered as she remembered looking into her father's eyes as he tried to understand  
that his wife was no longer among the living. It was horrifying to watch as the small crack that had been created in his psyche due to mother's illness, grow and crack a once  
proud man into a shadow of his former self. Nabiki knew that in that moment father also died a bit and all that remained was _daddy_.

Out of all three sisters she seemed to be the least affected by the death and the subsequent funeral. In fact some of the older members of the family had made some disparaging  
comments about her due to her impassive face. She had remained unaffected by the gossip. Maybe it was the shock or it still had not sunk in but her mother's death had not made  
her break down like it did with the rest of her family. She loved her mother however their relationship was not as close as those of her sisters. After all, in their family, she was the one  
who spent the least time with her. Kasumi did all the household chores with mother when she was not in school. Akane being the youngest was simply daddy and mommy's little baby and  
therefore received a capital share of their time. Nabiki besides being the middle child was also very independent and private; therefore she simply did not spend as much time with them  
or require that much either. She was old enough to not begrudge Akane the attention she received, but knew that she did resent her a little. She was honest enough with herself to not  
try to ignore those feelings and simply accepted them. So she had learnt to entertain her insatiable curiosity by reading any books she could get her hands on, especially any manga, and  
by listening in on people to find out their secrets. "Knowledge is power" she had read in a book of quotations and was the motto she lived her life by.

Breaking out of her thoughts she noticed that Kasumi had finally stopped at the tombstone. They all gathered around, lit incense sticks, and clapped their hands as they began to pray.  
Discreetly she took a peek at her father and wasn't all that surprised at the amount of tears running down his face, it reminded her of the Victoria falls which she had seen on TV. She  
watched as Kasumi turned towards the origin of the small rain shower and tried to comfort him. Her attempts were sadly not working and the rain shower was nearing a crescendo and  
developing into a monsoon, when Akane grabbed his hand and declared:

"Don't worry daddy I am still here for you."

Nabiki widened her eyes in shock at Akane's actions, which stopped the waterworks, and saw Kasumi give a smile to their father that said it all. Though Soun ignored the smile and only  
focused on Akane. Nabiki was still watching their father as Kasumi turned to Akane, and was able to see how a small spark of life returned to his eyes. Something about his gaze  
and smile felt amiss to her so she resolved to keep an eye on him.

"Thank you Akane, thank you. Thank you."

Soun repeated, like a goddamn parrot. Sometimes Nabiki asked herself how she could be related to him.

Soun then turned to Nabiki and Kasumi: "let's go home, we will visit mom again another day."

Nabiki stared at him and saw the light in his eyes dimmed. She dropped her gaze and turned to her sisters. She did not really understand what would happen to their family,  
however one thing was certain. Things had changed drastically in all of them and it was permanent.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own Ranma ½

Fanfic by Silwiyard

** Knife in the Board**

***thud***

***thud***

***thud***

The knife sliced into the shiny red chunk of beef on the wooden chopping board. The repetitive thud echoed through the kitchen, giving it a heartbeat that penetrated through the house.

***thud***

***thud***

***thud***

The heartbeat suddenly stopped and Kasumi turned from the meat to look out the window at afternoon sun. She was cooking after returning from school, just as she had for the last 7 years  
since her mother's death. Cooking was the legacy that mom had left her it was when she felt closest to her mom.

Kasumi sighed. 7 years had come and gone. 7 years ago she had taken up the mantel of housekeeper and had dedicated practically all her free time to raising Akane and taking caring of father.  
Nabiki for the most part raised herself and had even bothered to learn how to cook though she rarely advertised that fact. She was now 16, Nabiki was 14 and Akane was about to turn 13.  
Their father was still refusing to return to teaching classes, they were living of the savings of their parents along with the insurance money from mom. Nabiki had taken to looking after the  
family money and was always making sure that the bills and taxes were paid on time.

The only contribution Akane made to the household was when she decided to cook; Kasumi frowned at the memories of these incidents. Akane's attempts to cook were not very successful,  
she simply did not taste her own food and what she produced usually ate through all the pans and pots, and last time they had to replace the futon. The poor futon had a hole right in the  
middle where Akane's latest creation had eaten through the pine wood, the edges were burnt black. She shook her head, the further Akane stayed from her kitchen the safer and happier  
they would all be. Well everyone but Akane, but she was sure that Akane would understand...eventually...hopefully...

"I am home" rang into the kitchen as Nabiki took of her shoes and walked into the kitchen.

"smells delicious ne-chan"

"Thanks Nabiki"

"I am going to change, let's have some tea when I come back down."

"Of course, I will just leave the food to cook."

Nabiki smiled and left to change clothes as Kasumi set water to boil. Kasumi smiled, tea was when Nabiki sat down with her to relax and talk. They took this time to enjoy each other's company  
and to discuss just about anything. These sessions had been probably the main thing that allowed them to remain sane and strong these past few years and sadly were probably the only from of social life she had.  
Their dad had despite their hopes never recovered completely since the funeral. He had improved thanks to Akane but still tended into burst into tears when anything happened to her.  
He stayed home, played Shogi or Go and read the newspaper. That was the extent of his actions. The only time he seemed to recover any semblance to a functional human being was when doting and giving into any of Akane's demands.  
She was losing hope that her dad would return to his former self and actually be a father to them all. She had previously confided these fears to Nabiki and Nabiki had expressed little if no hope for such a change.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Nabiki came down wear a loose pale yellow t-shirt and white shorts. She picked up the kettle and two cups and went to sit in front of the koi pond. She poured the tea and handed one cup to Nabiki.

"How was your day Kasumi?"

"It was ok, though these boys gave me these letters. They must have remembered it was my day for cleaning duty and gave me all their used envelops. It was very thoughtful of them."

Nabiki smiled, "Yes how thoughtful." It still amazed her how Kasumi could selectively ignore clear signs of boys being interested in her.

"And you Nabiki?" Nabiki gave a miniscule shrug. "The same as usual." Kasumi grimaced, Nabiki had only few friends of which the only one she knew was Yuna. Yuna was a sarcastic and often direct girl;  
well that was what Nabiki told her. Kasumi had never heard the girl speak. She was a misanthrope and hated talking to people to such an extent that no one knew or could remember what her voice sounded like apart from Nabiki.  
Yuna's friendship with Nabiki was considered one of the great mysteries of Nerima.

Kasumi believe that there was a barrier that prevented her little sister from having friends. Nabiki was far more cunning and intelligent than most people even realized. That coupled with both a maturity that belied her age  
and a stare colder than the arctic wind intimidated the kids that were just coming to understand the complexities of human relationships and therefore made it difficult for friendships to from.  
On the other hand Nabiki may simply not have any interest in having more friends.

"How is daddy doing?" Nabiki asked taking a sip of tea. Kasumi's left eyebrow rose gracefully. Now this was certainly interesting, Nabiki never asked about their father unless it was going to lead to a very unpleasant conversation about the family.  
She knew Nabiki had no real concern about father as she was sure that whatever was left in his mind was of little interest to her.

"He is the same as always." Kasumi said playing along. Nabiki scoffed "I am not surprised."

They both fell into a comfortable silence as they watched the fish in the koi pond lazily swim in circles. Moments pasted as they watched the trees swayed hypnotically in the wind.  
"Akane is going to have a problem soon. She was always spoiled by daddy and mother; however her attitude is starting to make me lose patience. We need to start reining her in before it gets worse. Otherwise I will deal with her."

Kasumi sighed, "Don't you think you are being a little bit too harsh?" Nabiki stared at her silently. Kasumi ignored the mounting pressure she could feel from Nabiki's stare.

"I will talk to her Nabiki. I hope you won't do anything to her until I do." "Alright ne-chan, I will wait." Nabiki stood up as she heard Akane's voice calling from the entrance to the house.  
"The tea was great as usual Kasumi, I am going to headr out." Kasumi smiled as Nabiki took the kettle to the kitchen and then disappeared through the front entrance.  
She stood up and started to walk to the kitchen someone had to wash the cups and finish cooking dinner.

As Kasumi washed the tea cups she could feel dust from the slates Akane broke entering the Kitchen. She wished that Akane would clean up after herself when she broke them.  
She winced as Akane's voice cut through the air as she shouted each time she broke a few slates. As much as she loved her little sister she had to admit that her voice when raised would certainly not attract or soothe any woodland creatures.

Akane was the only one of them who still practiced the art. Nabiki only used it to stay fit along with aerobics while Kasumi had always been far more interested in cooking.  
Kasumi was in no way an expert, but she thought that repeatedly breaking slates or bricks was not exactly the correct way to improve the art.

She turned to the pot where the meat was cooking and tasted it just like mother used to. Her taste buds were treated to a subtle crescendo of pleasure. Kasumi smile grew it was perfect, it tasted just like mother's had.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own Ranma ½

Fanfic by Silwiyard

**Circle of Rocks**

Pillars of light broke through the canopy formed by the recently rain filled clouds and fell down on upon the city illuminating bits and pieces of it, reflecting of the water puddles left from the morning rainstorm.  
The edges of the clouds had an ethereal orange glow forming a web of amber that spread all the way to the horizon.

A girl was strolling down the small country road that cut through a field of wild grass and lead up to a small hill with two peaks covered in oaks and pines.  
She leisurely zigzagged down the road sometimes stopping at random intervals to stare out at the grass that had stretched and grown throughout the spring to impressive heights.

Nabiki looked out across the filled watching the morning dew drops sparkle winking at her. She took breath of air and smelt the recently rain filled air.  
She smiled with pleasure and continued walking towards the hill. Soon she reached the tree line and veered of the path and made a direct line towards the east peak.

Nabiki picked her way through the thick undergrowth of the forest floor with ease and grace. Generally the great outdoors held little interest to her however there was something different about where she was going.  
She had come across this little location after she had nearly lost her temper with both daddy and Akane. She left the house before she lost her control and could lash out in her anger.  
Nabiki had grabbed the first bus she ran across and gotten off at the last stop to walk of her anger. She had stalked through the fields and climbed up the hill until eventually a clearing had opened up before her.  
The same wild grass as the fields below was spread throughout the clearing except where six rock monoliths stood evenly spaced in a vague circle formation that seemed to be more of a hexagon than any other shape.  
Each rock was about 70 cm tall and stood straight up. The rock ring reminded Nabiki of pictures she had seen of Stonehenge albeit on a smaller scale.

The clearing seemed to be completely separate from the rest of the world it exuded a feeling solemnity and silence much like a cathedral. Nabiki had never felt something like this before and was instantly attracted to it.  
She walked forward and circled the rocks inspecting each one. Occasionally she could have sworn that she saw some sort of light flickering from the rocks, however eventually she decided that it must have been a trick of the light.  
Sitting down in the centre of the rocks she let her mind drift and her thoughts clear. Hours passed and eventually she stood and left for dinner and promised herself to come back again. That had been about a year ago and since then she kept on returning.  
At first it was only when she was angry however it escalated and now she came to the stone ring as often she could. Each time she felt slightly more connected to the rings and being away from them felt much like she was missing something.

Now as she cleared the undergrowth this early Sunday morning and drifted into the clearing she started her customary walk around the circles on a whim she touched two rocks that stood next to each other.  
As Nabiki turned her back on them and entered the centre of the ring both rocks pulsed. On one of the rocks light blue lines started to travel from the edges towards the centre randomly making perfect 90 degree turns as they neared each other.  
The lines then connected with each other as they formed a maze which at the centre had a perfect hexagon with a small gem in the middle. The other monolith glowed green as a green gem formed in the centre and a green hexagon appeared around it.  
Green lines ran from the hexagon towards the edges curving and twisting much like vines would. The lines pulsed once and then started to fade away.  
Had Nabiki turned around she would have noted that the light blue lines looked like a mix of Greek and Incan art forms. She had national geographic to thank for that piece of knowledge.

Nabiki sat in the centre of the rocks as she had countless times when she turned to face the wind which was blowing from the direction of the two recent unseen light shows.  
Blinking a few times to make sure that her eyes were still in complete working order she narrowed them as they focused on something that was not there before.  
Nestled in the shadow of one of the rocks was a small non-descript oak chest standing where there had not been one before. With trepidation and her curiosity gnawing at her she approached the small chest and knelt down before it.  
She looked at the chest and could not see anything out of the ordinary or suspicious. Unable to reach a conclusion about the chest she gave in to her curiosity and flipped the lid open.

Books. Scrolls. Dust. Lots of dust. The chest was filled to the brim with them hardcover leather bound books and scrolls tied in ribbons of either light blue or green.  
Of course over all of this was a layer of dust that might as well have been a blanket draped over the contents of the chest.  
Having no desire to have a sneezing fit she carefully picked up the first book instead of blowing and disturbing all the dust. She wiped the dust of the tome she had just picked up and  
raised her eyebrows at the cover which only featured a hexagon with a gem shaped image in the centre while her eyes sceptically stared at the rest of the chest.

The sun had reached its highest point in the sky and Nabiki's stomach expressed its need for sustenance. Sighing she closed the chest thought about it and pick it up.  
She turned and left form the clearing carrying the chest under her right arm and in her left hand was the tome.  
As she walked down the hill the symbol on the tome glowed slightly as writing formed above and below the hexagon.


End file.
